Moree is a major agricultural centre, noted for its part in the Australian cotton growing industry which was established there in the early 1960s. The town is located at the junction of the Newell Highway and Gwydir Highway and can be reached by daily train and air services from Sydney. It is situated in the Shire of Moree Plains. Like many towns and cities in Australia, Moree shares its name with a much smaller community in Northern Ireland Moree County Tyrone. At the 2001 census, Moree had a population of 9,247[2] declining to 8,083 in 2006.[1]

Moree is home to artesian hot spring baths which are famous for their reputed healing qualities and was a focal point of 'freedom-ride' protests against racial segregation in the 1960s c.[3]

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The Kamilaroi people, whose descendants are still in the town, were the early inhabitants of the area. Major Sir Thomas Mitchell went to the district at the request of the acting governor after the recapture of escaped convict George Clarke who told of a great river called the Kindur in 1832. Clarke had been living in the area to the south with the Kamilaroi from 1826-1831. Squatters soon followed in Mitchell's wake establishing pastoral runs, among which was 'Moree' (1844), from a Kamilaroi term believed to mean either 'long waterhole' or 'rising sun'.

In 1851 James and Mary Brand arrived and built a general store on the banks of the river in 1852. A post office was added the following year. The family sold up and moved to the Hunter Valley in 1857 but James died in 1858 leaving Mary with six children so she returned opened another business and in 1861 she opened the town's first inn.[3]

Moree was gazetted as a town in 1862 with land sales proceeding that year. A court of petty sessions was established in 1863 and was followed by a severe flood in 1864. The first constable arrived and a police station was set up in 1865. The first church (Wesleyan) was built in 1867 when the town had a population of 43.[3]

As closer settlement proceeded agriculture emerged as a thriving industry on the fertile flood plains. Banking began in 1876 and the first local newspaper was set up in 1881, at which time the population was 295.

The town became a municipality in 1890. During 1894 construction of the heritage listed Federation-style lands office commenced and ended that years with the completion of the ground floor. The second storey was added in 1903. In 1895 the Great Artesian Basin which sits under Moree was tapped and yields over thirteen million litres of water every day. The bore was sunk to 3,000 ft (900 m) deep in order to provide water for agricultural pursuits but was proved unsuitable for this purpose. The railway line and service from Sydney arrived in 1897.[3]

Wheat cultivation increased after World War II with a flour mill built at Moree in 1951 and the first commercial pecan nut farm was established on the Gwydir Highway east of Moree in 1966. The Trawalla Pecan Nut Farm is the largest pecan nut farm in the southern hemisphere, growing about 75,000 trees. In 1994 the Gwydir Olive Grove Company was established when two Moree families started producing olive oil from olives grown in the area.[4]

Moree was one of the destinations of the famous 1965 Freedom Bus ride, an historic trip through northern NSW led by the late Charles Perkins to bring media attention to discrimination against Indigenous Australians. It brought racial segregation in rural Australia to the attention of urban Australians, in particular at the Moree public swimming pool as well as pubs and theatres, where Aborigines were refused entry. At the Moree swimming pool, after a confrontation with the council and pool management, it was agreed that Indigenous children could swim in the pool outside school hours.[5] However, this was immediately reversed when the bus left Moree. Jim Spigelman, one of the Freedom riders who later became Chief Justice of the NSW Supreme Court, was king hit by a local outside the Moree baths after making sexual comments to a married woman, according to a Sydney Morning Herald report on the 40th anniversary of the Freedom Bus Rides.[6][7]

In 2007 the Moree Plains Council announced plans for a $14m upgrade to the hot thermal baths.[4]

Moree is served by The Moree Champion newspaper owned by Rural Press which is published on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Radio stations 2VM and 98.3 NOW FM also broadcast from Moree. The NOW FM transmitter site is located on Mt Dowe, whilst the 2VM transmitter is located 5 kilometers east of Moree on the Gwydir Highway. Both stations are owned by the Broadcast Operations Group and broadcasts weekday breakfast and afternoon programs.

Prime Television's Tamworth station also had a News Bureau in Moree, but this was closed down in 2000 due to budget deficiencies.